Blind Nailing

[Jim Koepke]

Thought this might be of interest to some.

A small cabinet project has some trim molding at the top and bottom. It seemed blind nailing might be in order if it is to be stained or clear finished to show off the wood.

With no further ado here is one way (certainly not the only way) to hide the nails holding the molding.

I always do a few practice shaving liftings with a piece of scrap to get warmed up for the job. Then the molding piece is held in a vise and a shaving is lifted:

Lifting a Shaving.jpg

Note the shaving is made in the same direction as one would plane the piece to avoid lifting more than is wanted. There are also a few items placed next to the molding where the nails will be. This way there is not a pencil mark on the wood to remove later. Also not that this is started so the shavings are lifted left to right to avoid lifting a shaving with a shirt sleeve or forearm.

Next a pilot hole is drilled for the nail:

Drilling Pilot for Nail.jpg

A hand drill makes it less likely to catch the shaving. The nails are driven into the pilot holes but not through all the way. A slight point coming out of the hole may help in positioning, it can also hinder positioning if a heavy hand is used. There is a bead of glue on the back of the molding. When adjacent moldings are added, both end grain faces get a thin coat of glue. (Here the glue is Titebond II.)

The nails are driven home with a nail set:

Nail Set.jpg

Care must be taken to not catch the shaving with the head of the nail.

Sometimes a small brush is used to apply glue, but a scrap stick of wood whittled to a small flat can also work:

A Touch of Glue.jpg

After gluing any excess glue is carefully wiped away. Then some painter's tape is used to hold the shaving down while the glue sets:

Tape Hold.jpg

The end is folded over for ease of removal. The end to be lifted is at the end of the shaving that is still connected. I burnish down the tape with my thumb or fingernail.

When dry fitting this it was noticed the front piece had a few thousandths too much removed on the shooting board. My correction was to make very shallow rabbets on the edges:

Oops! Correction.jpg

This made the corners come together much better:

Corner Detail.jpg

A little bit of light sanding and this will look fine.

Tomorrow when the tape is removed some pictures of that will be posted.

jtk

[Kent A Bathurst]

cool, never thought of that approach. thnx for the lesson, jim.

btw - all the "how-to" stuff you share - the photos.....are you truly headless??

keep waiting for proof of "no"...........

[Jim Koepke]

btw - all the "how-to" stuff you share - the photos.....are you truly headless??

Just don't want to shock the camera!

There is a bit of my lower face in the gluing image.

At least you can see I have had a shave recently. Looking back at old posts it seems there is only one image that even shows a hint of my having a longish beard.

Also got my annual hair cut recently.

jtk

[Barry McFadden]

This reminds me of when I built new kitchen cabinets for my house a few years ago...I used this blind nailer to fasten all the trim around the countertop...worked great..

[Jim Koepke]

Barry,

I have one just like that. Lee Valley no longer offers them.

They work fine on a flat surface. For a rounded surface a gouge seems to work better for me.

Lee Valley also sells a fish glue that is supposed to be good for this kind of work. My problem is even the smallest bottle will harden before it is all used. Maybe if my daily routine included blind nailing it would get used before its shelf life was over.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Okay, got back into the shop and figured the glue was dry:

Pulling the Tape.jpg

I recall a guy I worked with about 40 years ago telling me to pull tape at an angle.

Here is the worst of the blind nailing:

If You Know Where to Look.jpg

Here is an overall look at the same strip with the worst nail:

Overall Look.jpg

A stain may cause it to show more due to the edge of the shaving absorbing stain more readily.

Here is what the boss was doing:

Then There is the Boss.jpg

jtk

[Barry McFadden]

Good job Jim...yeah looks like LV doesn't have them anymore. Just checked the Veritas website http://veritastools.com/Products/Category.aspx and if you look at the picture above "Other Products" you will see the blind nailer but when you click on the picture all the 25 products are listed but the blind nailer isn't???????

[ken hatch]

Jim,

251 gram hot hide glue will work the same as the fish glue, is good for rub joints with no need to apply pressure for it to set. It's easy to make as little as you need for the project. It is my go to glue for most indoor furniture and is perfect for something like blind nailing.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the information Ken. I will have to give it a try sometime.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Hi Jim,

Good tutorial. I had forgotten about the old Stanley blind nailing tool, and had never thought about using a gouge.

I had glanced at the post earlier, but have had limited time lately, so wanted to study it more carefully.

How is your young apprentice doing? For what it's worth, your tutorials have made some of the rest of us apprentices as well. In addition, tutorials like yours, information folks like George posts, and information, posts, and tutorials from the other more advance Neanders also make a lot of us apprentices.

The tutorials are much appreciated.

Stew

Jim, I just thought a little more about being an apprentice and had to laugh.....some of us are a little old to be a true apprentice now.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the kind words Stew.

How is your young apprentice doing?

He didn't do so well in school, so he has been busy taking care of his education. Summer school should be out soon and there will be more "apprentices" coming up from California.

Jim, I just thought a little more about being an apprentice and had to laugh.....some of us are a little old to be a true apprentice now.

I consider my self a novice at woodworking and being a teacher. I'm a little old for that, but one is never to old to learn if it is something they want to do.

jtk

[David M Anderson]

Thanks Jim,

Great tip, first time I have seen this how to do.